Chained to a Promise
by Insanity rise
Summary: A quick little fic. Even after Aion is defeated, Chrono treks through the cold, for still he has one promise to keep, to return to the one person he promised to see again, the girl who he still loves...My First CC fanfic!


**Insanity rise**: a quick little story I wrote this morning for a manga I feel is my favorite of all time. This refers to the manga mostly, so if you've only seen the anime, it just won't flow correctly. Sorry for that. I just really wanted to write something Chrono crusade. I hope you like it, please review! Thanks! I'm actually considering making this a real story instead of a little drabble like it is. What do you think?

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Darkness shrouded over the land in a blanket of gray clouds and shadows, signaling the oncoming storm that would surely strike presently. Leaves lifted in the cool autumn breeze, dancing about in the frigid wind before landing on the cold frozen ground. The decreasing temperature was quite a mystery, though after all, winter was well on it's way. And to think these woods would fill up with white, quite a beautiful marvel. Why, if you pictured it just right, you could practically see the shimmering blanket of snow as the sunlight cast a glow over it's chilling surface. Yet there was one flaw, spots of earth where the snow could not reach for various reasons. These could be thought as of a person's soul, even the purest, nice person had some places where that kindness could not reach and other feelings took up the gap. Feelings that did not mix well with the warmth of love or companionship. Of course, one would have to be thinking quite to come up with such an imaginative solution, but this one man had a knack for that it seemed…

Chrono shook his head as his boots crunched over the frozen earth, brushing away such troubling thoughts. However, he knew they were true, he'd been that way once, they all had. He pushed the locks of violet hair from his eyes, trying to keep his mind focused on the road ahead. After all, it was a long journey, and in this mysterious silence, it seemed even longer and drug out. Sighing, he shook his head, the cold nipping at him even though he seemed to be dressed for the frigid winds. Still, it tore into him like a knife, cutting away, and it was only a matter of time before that cold weapon began to draw blood. Still, he trekked on, for this journey would end the second his feet stopped their constant rhythm, and then…his promise would be broken. He hated breaking promises, he hated making them. Promises were like chains, keeping you from doing some things and locking you into another until that task was complete. It could grow annoying, but this promise was on a completely different level from those others. This was one he couldn't afford to break away from, though the keys were dangling right in front of his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt tears begin to well in his eyes, and he just didn't know why. But he did, he still had that face on his mind. The day he'd left her, his life had stopped moving, stopped in time, and until he found her again, the clock couldn't continue again. It didn't matter how long or how far, he would find her, even as his body ached exhaustion and his mind filled with doubt, he knew that in the end, she was still waiting. And he couldn't leave her that way, waiting for him to return with nothing else on her mind, he still needed her to smile, to laugh, to bring him all those childish grins she had been so famous for. She was the humor, the light in his heart, she was the one who had fended off the darkness and overpowered it, sending it slinking to the shadows. However, surely it would resurface, if their bond was broken, then so would the laughs and smiles. And he needed those too much to let his own weakness get in the way.

No, he wouldn't cry, how could he let someone tear at his heart so much? He'd never felt this emptiness before, even after he'd lost Mary all those years ago, at least then he had someone else to blame. But this, this distance, this was his fault. Though it was Aion who had drug him this far, it was his own mind, his own soul that had followed. This was his fault, and thus, so was this problem. If only it were shorter, if only she were there smiling right now, then maybe his pace wouldn't be so slow, maybe he would hurry along. And he would hurry, if only there was still something to go back to.

He wanted to go back, back to his friends at the order, and he wanted to see just how Joshua was getting along. He couldn't do that stranded out in the cold without a single friend by his side. No, they weren't coming to him, he would have to go to them. He would have to trek these lonely miles and hold to the fact that there was light at the end of the tunnel, happiness lingering even through this bitter despair.

The fact of what he had done barely struck him. It was no more of a victory than a defeat to him. So, even if Aion was dead, even if this world was safe and saved. Surely still, there would be another threat, only this time he would not be there to aid his companion's in the darkness. Surely, he could not live on that much longer. After all, if his contractor perished…Those weren't thoughts he was partial too.

S till, he knew something was missing, and he could put a name to it the second it crossed his mind. Something he could never retrieve, something bloodshed and lies had fueled the cause to. His comrades, his true friends, people he'd been with since the first day he was free of Pandemonium's grasp. It was in those people his true despair lied. They were all dead now, and though he could try to deny it, he was the bearer of much of the guilt. It hadn't meant anything to the Order, to slaughter off a few monsters in a further attempt to cleanse this battered world. But to Chrono, it was like asking him to kill himself. He would never admit it, but he was sorry, ho so sorry for those deaths and somewhere in his mind, he could still remember a happier time. Those memories were bittersweet, but they were still there. Mary, Rizelle, Viede, Genai, and Shader, those were the people he was really starting to miss. He could still remember all of Shader's laughs, all of her antics and hyper attitude that got her scolded like a child oh so often. He could recall Rizelle's constant chasing after Aion, secretly wishing to please him only because she was so love struck over him, and that only made Genai unhappy, for he too had feeling he couldn't explain. Funny, he'd never get a chance to tell her of those feelings, now that his corpse was rotting on a blood-stained battlefield. Viede had always been so quiet and reserved but he had been a member of the group, and that was all they had asked for. Then, there was Mary. Just thinking of her pushed at the tears in Chrono's eyes. He missed her so much; there were times when he considered dying just to see her again. But he couldn't die now, not when he still had this promise hanging over his shoulders.

Brushing the gathering tears from his eyes, he sighed. He still had such a long way to go, and he still had someone who was waiting for his return. Until then, he wouldn't smile again, wouldn't laugh, and wouldn't cry. He was saving that warmth, for the one person he had come to cherish so much. If only he could make it in time…

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_I hope you liked it. Please review!_


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